1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for transmitting or receiving system information in a wireless communication system in which Machine to Machine (M2M) communication is used.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Although conventional communication is mostly Human to Human (H2H) communication performed between terminals of users via a base station, Machine to Machine (M2M) communication has become possible along with development of communication technology. The term “M2M communication” refers to communication that is performed between electronic devices as the term states. Although, in a broad sense, the term “M2M communication” refers to wired or wireless communication between electronic devices or communication between a device that is controlled by a human and a machine, the term has been generally used recently to indicate wireless communication between electronic devices, i.e., wireless communication between devices.
In the early 1990's when the M2M communication concept was introduced, M2M was considered a concept such as remote control or telematics and associated markets were greatly limited. However, in recent years, M2M communication has been continuously rapidly developed to create a new market that is attracting domestic and global attention. Especially, M2M communication has exerted a great influence upon fields such as Point Of Sale (POS) and fleet management in the security-related application market and a smart meter for automatically measuring the amount of consumed heat or electricity, measuring an operating time of construction equipment and facilities, and remote monitoring machines and facilities. In the future, M2M communication will be used for a wider variety of purposes, in combination with existing mobile communication and wireless high-speed Internet or low-power communication solutions such as Wi-FI and ZigBee, and will no longer be limited to the B2B market and will expand its application field into a B2C market.
In the M2M communication era, all machines equipped with a SIM card can transmit and receive data such that it is possible to remotely manage and control all such machines. For example, the field of application of M2M communication technology is greatly broad such that M2M communication technology can be used for a great number of devices and equipment such as cars, trucks, trains, containers, vending machines, and gas tanks.
The power consumption problem is very important for the M2M device due to the characteristics of the M2M device. Thus, the M2M device reports to the base station in a long-term manner or is triggered by an event to report to the base station. That is, while the M2M device mostly remains in an idle state, the M2M device is awoken into an active state at intervals of a long-term period or when an event has occurred. Accordingly, problems such as unnecessary signaling overhead and power consumption may occur if a system information transmission and reception method, which has been applied to conventional User Equipment (UE), i.e., H2H devices, is directly applied to the M2M device.
However, no studies have been conducted on a method of receiving system information by the M2M device which has different characteristics from the conventional User Equipment (UE) or a method for transmitting system information of the M2M device.